Former Sydney radio broadcaster and rugby coach Alan Jones charged with sex crimes

SYDNEY (AP) — Retired Sydney radio broadcaster and former Australian national rugby coach Alan Jones was charged Monday with multiple sexual offenses against men spanning two decades, police said.

Deputy Police Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald said the 83-year-old will appear in court in Sydney on December 18 on 24 charges relating to eight alleged victims from 2001 to 2019.

The youngest of the alleged victims was 17 when the first alleged crime occurred, Fitzgerald said.

“With respect to the victims, we will allege that the defendant knew some of them personally and some of them professionally. We will also argue that some of the victims were encountering the defendant for the first time when the alleged crime occurred,” Fitzgerald told reporters.

Jones’ attorney, Bryan Wrench, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Jones was arrested at his Sydney beachfront flat on Monday morning and made no comment to the media as he left the police station late Monday.

Retired Sydney broadcaster and former Australian national rugby coach Alan Jones is seen in the back of an unmarked police car as he is transferred to Day St Police Station in Sydney on Monday, November 18, 2024. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP Image via AP) )

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Bianca De Marchi

Jones hosted a popular Sydney breakfast radio show from 2002 until his retirement in 2020. He was considered one of the most powerful people in Australian media.

He was also a successful coach of the Australian national rugby team, the Wallabies, for four years from the start of 1984. The team won 86 of the 102 matches played under his leadership.

Jones was also influential in conservative politics and was the Prime Minister’s speechwriter. Malcolm Fraser. Fraser was in power from 1975 to 1983. Fraser died in 2015.

Police set up a strike force to investigate Jones after The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported allegations in December last year that Jones had used his position of power, first as a school teacher and then as a popular broadcaster, to prey on a string of young men.

The charges include 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault and nine counts of indecent assault. There were also two charges of sexual touching and two charges of common assault.

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